Lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia will be back in the ring less than three months after his last fight, taking on Huseyin Cinkara, the mandatory challenger to Opetaia’s IBF world title.
Ben Damon, an Australian boxing broadcaster, confirmed the news. Opetaia vs. Cinkara will take place at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.
Opetaia, 26-0 (20 KOs), last fought on October 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, making a voluntary defense against Jack Massey and scoring a sixth-round stoppage.
That was Opetaia’s third straight appearance at the Kingdom Arena. The fight with Cinkara will be his first time performing in front of his home crowd — he lives in the nearby city of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia — since winning his first world title and the lineal championship there in his first fight with Mairis Briedis in July 2022.
Opetaia made one defense of the IBF belt and then vacated it in order to face Ellis Zorro in December 2023. He wound up rematching Briedis this May, with the vacant IBF title on the line, and won another unanimous decision.
This time, the 29-year-old Opetaia is opting to hold on to the title, especially with the prospect of a unification bout on the horizon. The top challenger for Opetaia’s throne is someone who has already unified, Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, who now has both the WBA and WBO belts following his clear unanimous decision over Chris Billam-Smith last weekend.
The 39-year-old Cinkara became the IBF’s mandatory challenger after winning an eliminator in April, knocking out Armend Xhoxhaj in four minutes and moving to 22-0 (18 KOs) in the process.
Opetaia’s team had requested an exception from the IBF to be allowed to defend the IBF belt against Massey.
The IBF had approved that request under multiple conditions, including that Opetaia-Massey couldn’t take place any later than October 12; the winner of Opetaia-Massey must defend the IBF title by January 20, 2025; and that the IBF would not grant any more exceptions for defending against the cruiserweight mandatory challenger.
IBF rules in general prohibit consecutive voluntary defenses.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
